


Concurring Overwrite

by reminiscence



Category: Digimon - All Media Types, Digimon Adventure Zero Two | Digimon Adventure 02, Digimon Frontier, Digimon Tamers
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Ficlet Collection, Gen, Sequel, ffn challenge: too many cooks
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-12-15
Updated: 2016-10-23
Packaged: 2018-08-24 04:30:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 29
Words: 17,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8357278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reminiscence/pseuds/reminiscence
Summary: Choices were supposed to write the future, and they were there. But the way things had started without them, it seemed that every choice was impossible to make. For some, they were choices bent on destruction. For others, those choices could lead to salvation. And they had to come together to make that one choice that would decide all of their fates...and the future. If they can.





	1. Illness

**Author's Note:**

> Hiya everyone. :D As part of the Too Many Cooks Challenge on the Digimon Fanfiction Challenges Forum, The Light's Refrain (Light) and I are working on a drabble collection each that serves as a sequel to her fic "Preceeding Overwrite". While you don't need any prior knowledge of Preceeding Overwrite (since between us we'll explain everything in due course), but to get the full experience out of these drabbles you should read Light's "Commencing Overwrite" as well. Both are available on Light's profile at fanfiction.net.
> 
> The Too Many Cooks Challenge is when two people share a plot and take turns writing drabbles that are compliant with each other using prompts from their partner until one of them gets written into a corner. This means that, while neither of our drabble collections are written in a continuous manner, they both exist in the same 'verse and have a solid overarching plot. She's covering the Tamers side of things; I'm covering the Frontier side. The 01/02 digidestined are also expected to crop up – though when depends on where our drabbles take us. Each drabble is engineered to tell a little more of the story – think of it as a massive jigsaw puzzle. :D Some will be tame and cutesy, others will be quite dramatic. Whatever pops up depends on whatever prompt Light gives me and whatever my muse plans to do with it.
> 
> Updates will be unpredictable, because we're taking turns writing drabbles. Light did the first one; this is the second. She'll do the third and so forth. So our updates depend on each other as much as they depend on ourselves this time. :D
> 
> "Data Fragment" as titling the drabbles is Light's idea, btw. All credit for that goes to her. :D

Waiting times at Shibuya had grown even longer since their adventures in the Digital World, but Koichi had collected enough experience to know to bring a book along in wait. His mother usually just dropped him off as well, but Kousei was more tentative and had insisted on coming along.

That left him trying to keep pace with his son's reading speed, an impossible feat despite the practise he got from skimming research papers every other day. But he was an adult and had learnt patience, even in a waiting room that seemed more chaotic than he had imagined. The nurse behind the counter seemed the worst off, the poor woman almost in tears as her computer refused to cooperate for the second time – or the second time Kousei had seen anyway; he had seen her reboot it once already.

It became clear a little later – thanks to some cursing from impatient patients and apologetic explanations from a senior nurse who had come to assist – that the computer problem was an ongoing one.

'About seven weeks ago, the life-support equipment was going haywire,' Koichi said suddenly, having gotten distracted from his book. His eyes had narrowed somewhat; it was his way of showing sympathy, Kousei noted, although someone less familiar would probably mistake it for something else. 'They haven't changed much since then.'

'Who hasn't?' Kousei's eyes left the desk and focused upon his son. Koichi wore a contemplative expression: not one he'd ever seen on Koji's face, but he was starting to get used to seeing it on the elder twin. Subtle differences – that he had lost nine years in seeing. And some things he shouldn't have had to see at all, like the red scar where the other had hit his head on the unforgiving ground, and the too tired eyes.

'The doctors and nurses,' Koichi replied, before adding: 'I can't imagine how it would be to work in that sort of environment, when everything's against you and all you're trying to do is save someone.' A hand came up unconsciously to shield eyes from a non-existent glare.

'Is your head hurting?' Kousei asked, concerned.

'Hmm? Oh…no.' Koichi lowered his hand. 'Not really; just a little dizzy.'

'Shouldn't you lie down or something? Or – ' Kousei cut himself off as the other just leaned back in his chair. 'You're sure you're okay?'

'Mmm-hmm,' the other replied, blinking slowly at the ceiling, as though trying to decide something. 'It happens occasionally,' he said after a pregnant pause. 'Dizzy spells, I mean. It would be too much to hope for to do something –' He searched for a word and failed, running over it instead. ' – and come away with nothing.'

Listening to that made Kousei slightly uncomfortable, and not simply because he had missed so much of his elder son's life. But the hospital setting – with people still grumbling and the computer still slowing things down – invited no casual conversation. The only things that ran through his mind were those which had been said in that very room. Head injuries, sicknesses, computer viruses, equipment failure –

The thought struck him suddenly, and his heart skipped a beat. 'Seven weeks ago was when you –' he began.

The other's eyes froze mid-blink.

'You weren't – were you?' Kousei didn't know why his voice was shaking. His son was in no danger now, after all. But somehow, the idea of such a close shave made even finer chilled his blood.

'I don't know,' Koichi said, after a brief pause and sounding much the same as his father felt. 'I suppose Koji would.'

Kousei wondered if he wanted to ask his younger son. Whether he _could_.

'Though Koji would say "no" either way,' Koichi said. Which was the truth, but did nothing to abate either of their new worries – or the old as the Doctor, some hours late, finally called Koichi for his appointment.


	2. Matrix

He would wind up with the wrong sort of bug, JP thought idly to himself as his heavy head weighed down all inspiration. Though he supposed it was some sort of karma for going out late at night trying to catch the night-critters – but he had hoped, having once been a beetle himself, that they would have been more forthcoming.

They hadn't been, and he felt the start of a flu upon waking up the next morning.

That day, his mind was occupied with an arts project. Not one up his forte – he had more of a head for design than precognition – but he always managed to get something presentable once pen was on paper. A lookout of the future…could be anything, he mused to himself, casting his mind around. Maybe a portal to the past, like his father was attempting to create. Or to an alternate world, as some of his father's colleagues sought.

He wondered what such a machine would like, what such a time. But those thoughts – starting with lush green instead of their too bright cities and grey suburbs – quickly turned inward and it was Beetlemon who took the page, Beetlemon as he grew and changed, bright yellow scabs of childhood moulting off and becoming a stronger brown, blue armour slowly becoming dark silver like solid rock.

A thought occurred to him, and he spread a grid over the drawing, measuring with his eyes before comparing to a solid model: himself. Or rather, himself as he had been a few weeks ago, before the fat had become lean muscle in the space of a few minutes. The size was a little bigger, fuller, he mused. He didn't think Digimon grew like humans did, with those subtle changes, but somehow it seemed to fit.

He figured it was fine. Beetlemon not as he had left him those weeks ago, but Beetlemon as he had changed in his mind. A future Beetlemon, who had learnt to grow like a human and become an adult from a child – for they had been children, in the end. It still hurt thinking how close they'd come to losing Koichi. How close they'd come to losing the world.

His mother came in later and saw the finished picture, and questioned him. 'My future,' was what he said in reply, but his mother said she failed to see the resemblance.

It was as plain as day for him, but his mother knew nothing about the Digital World and JP would rather it remained their – he and the other five legendary warriors…and even the four "Angemon's kids" – secret. Somehow, he didn't want it to spread beyond that, as though it would be snatched away if it were.

As it was, he thought the drawing could be his little hope of returning to the Digital World, to Beetlemon…to _being_ Beetlemon.

Trying to remember the Fractal code, he started writing the binary numbers too soft to see. They were probably wrong anyway, he mused, but somehow it made the image seem more authentic – even if it was barely visible, and by the time his little project was due in even that will have faded. Still, it was personal satisfaction, he told himself, even if it strained his eyes and made his head feel ever heavier.


	3. Burning

'It is not our world,' Seraphimon said.

Ophanimon did not seem to agree with that, and once Cherubimon would have been thrilled. But, growing up together as they had – with Bokomon and Neemon and the children as their parents – had long since given them new connection. So he focused on their words – words he had in another life ignored, and found he agreed from a tenderness in his heart more than anything else.

'It may not be our world,' he sighed, and both Angels turned their gaze to him, 'but by asking help of the human world we have sped things up nonetheless.'

'The human world was always a part of this.' Ophanimon's beautiful voice sung with sorrow. 'But without our – my – interference they could have lived for generations yet. And even after all they fought and sacrificed for us, where are back where we started with a fragmented world.'

'A reborn world,' Seraphimon said.

'A world reborn incomplete,' Cherubimon corrected. 'And breaking apart more each day. That plane may have crossed into a different Digital plane but trains are passing through our own stations more than the Trailmon do, even though the Gate has been closed.'

'Gates can close,' Ophanimon said quietly, 'but holes are more difficult to fill. This world is being eaten alive – and not just this one. Humans are disappearing from their world. Some are later found roaming in ours. Digimon foreign to our world are appearing and seeing more at ease than our natives. The world is changing – heading towards a change, and we can only control how fast.'

'These things have been happing for a long time,' Seraphimon pointed out, 'and, despite the damage in some parts of the land, other parts still thrive. I know what you say, Ophanimon, but I cannot agree with it.' He did not look at Cherubimon as he spoke.

'The short bone must always be given to someone,' the female said. 'By bringing humans into our world we have accelerated the process, but it will still be dragged over years for them. Years more of disappearances, of electronics failures that have killed. If you recall it almost killed one of our own.'

Cherubimon turned his face away; he remembered that, having been concerned of the human he had both damned and saved. If it hadn't been for Ophanimon's powers, he would have died – all because of an electrical disturbance.

'We knew and we still did it,' Ophanimon continued. 'It was my choice to make and I made it. I do not regret it.' Her eyes were hard as she raised her head, and Seraphimon shrugged a little. He had not disagreed with it. 'But when I see their hopes and dreams burning, knowing they'll never have the time to come to pass in this world…' Her voice trailed off.

'The faster the change occurs, the faster the world can straighten out,' Cherubimon surmised, fingering the two holy rings around his ears. 'If you rip apart a head from its body, the being will ultimately suffer less than if it is eaten alive. I am tired of watching this.'

Seraphimon sighed again. 'I know this,' he said, 'but to drive the world towards destruction does not sit well with me. The end does not justify the means. But I know I am hanging on to this world that is now – if only there was a way to _stop_ this…but then those children and digimon will have died for nothing.'

'Perhaps it is better not to think of it as death,' Ophanimon said. 'Instead, say that they have evolved. It is how they speak of it.'

'You've seen them?' Both males were surprised.

'I have,' Ophanimon nodded. 'It was how I knew my vision to be the truth and not born from foolish hope.'

'So…they have been here.' Seraphimon's expressionless mask showed sorrow. 'These old worlds must have been in a very sorry state.' He paused for a moment, and then added: 'I still cannot accept removing or seal so quick. Despite the other Digidestined, it would be twice as cruel to our own children.'

That was the sad truth; they would have been kinder to have never returned to their old lives.

'They also have their own choices,' Seraphimon finished. 'If nothing else, we must wait for that; we owe it to them.'

Cherubimon left the holy rings on his ears and dropped his paw.


	4. Laughing

If Takuya ever found which idiot dumped Doggymon on his doorstep, they'd be getting a good frying. As it was, he was going to fry the Doggymon.

It was just as annoying as it had been back in the Trailmon races – and here he had thought Zoe had mellowed him out a bit. But _no_ , instead it had blasted chips into the front step, stolen his hat and shattered a window in his mother's car – which Takuya would probably be getting the blame for, considering he was the only one supposed to be home.

Somehow, it didn't occur to him until much later that Doggymon shouldn't even have been _in_ their world, let alone on his front doorstep. And they certainly shouldn't have been engaged in a dangerous game of tag on the streets – because Takuya wasn't as flexible as Doggymon even if luck was still with him.

Behind them, they left a wake of chaos. Traffic lights flickered. Cars swerved. Curses chased them down the road. Takuya continued to run, after the Doggymon weaving through rush-hour traffic as fire burnt on in his heart, and the Doggymon just laughed that _insanely_ frustrating laugh.

Eventually Takuya could run no more, having the endurance of a lowly human being in front of a rookie Digimon. The heat had become a physical heat, creating sweat that stuck his shirt on his chest and sticking his tongue onto the roof of his mouth. If he had his spirit, he decided as he gave in to his aching thighs, he would have caught that annoyance of a Digimon, instead of watching it laugh its head off on the roof of a freshly abandoned noodle cart.

Takuya swore that if someone asked for his soul in exchange for his spirits right then, he would willingly hand it over just for a chance to punch the laughter out of that annoying chaotic beast of a Digimon.


	5. Shadow

Ophanimon was supposed to be the one with precognitive ability, or maybe Koichi. He was always sitting down when a dizzy spell came on at least, though that might've been more practise than anything else. And while he could smile about it, Koji always felt a sorrow in his heart. It wasn't fair, after all, that his brother had to live with those dizzy spells for the rest of his life, while for the rest of their sicknesses could come and go.

That sort of damage was sadly irreparable, and while it had been say there was not regret at the beginning, those shadows snuck in in silent weeks. Because when he had been crying over his brother's unmoving body, Koji was sure he didn't care what happened to the two of them so long as they got more time together.

But now that they had the time, he was painfully aware of those scars. And when he started feeling the echoes of his brother's pain, it sunk like a feeling of dread in his heart. Like something was getting worse: not his brother because Koichi was a horrible liar…even if that didn't help in getting the _truth_ , but _something_ was getting worse. Something…

He heard about a mangled train on the Shibuya line, coming out of the station as though it had been assaulted with a heavy hammer. He'd heard of the electrical problems the districts constantly experienced, the disappearances over the years, seemingly unrelated to each other except for their trails going cold. He'd heard of a rabid orange dog causing chaos downtown – and Takuya spitting curses on the phone afterward telling of said Doggymon.

Digimon shouldn't be in the human world, and it made him wonder if everything that went wrong with the world wasn't somehow connected. The thought was often accompanied by the ache in his brain, and Koji's thoughts were whisked away on twin theories and predestiny – for it was too much of a coincidence that his brother's head always hurt when it was something to do with the Digital World.

Granted, it had been only one time – or two if you counted the Doggymon incident. Although Koichi didn't seem to remember having a dizzy spell when Takuya opened his door to find the Champion Digimon throwing bombs at it, even if Koji did.


	6. Devour

Zoe felt queasy instead of hungry again, which was a worry considering she was also feeling somewhat light-headed. The high-pitched giggles of her girl-friends didn't help much either, though they were a comfort. In their own way. She supposed.

It would have been rather lonely sitting opposite a noodle cart by herself; the guy who ran the place was nowhere to be seen, and neither was the so-called cosplaying dragon dude. Not that she'd ever seen what really pulled the cart, nor had many other people. Though it mightn't have been a cosplayer, but a real live digimon – seeing as they seemed to catch the occasional whisper of their existence in the real world.

It made her wonder if there were other Digidestined around. Though it didn't seem to matter overly so; her best friends were the people and Digimon she had shared her life-changing adventure with, and other friends were people she could connect with on a more superficial level. Like classmates should be, she supposed, hanging out after school sometimes, going over to each other's houses for birthday parties and not doing much else aside.

'You're looking rather lonely,' a male voice commented suddenly, and Zoe glared at the brunet who plopped down beside her.

'That seat's taken,' she told him flatly.

'Oh, really?' he pretended to look around. 'To one of those girls, maybe?' He was pointing at the noodle cart, where the girls were devouring their meals. She'd moved away from them, the smell not really helping her stomach.

'Wasn't feeling too good,' she muttered, before glaring again and raising her voice. 'My friends are perfectly aware of where I am, and they'll be all over you as soon as they turn around.'

She didn't bother telling him that "all over" meant, quite literally all over, as it would probably be crush at first sight.

'Oh, I don't doubt that.' His perfect row of pearly teeth gleamed. 'Insects love to swarm.'

Zoe raised a brow at that, before wincing a little at the pain that rippled.

'Bug?' the boy asked in amusement, before adding: 'You stick out like a sore thumb, you know.'

The world quietened, as if someone had lowered the volume except for what occurred between them. Her breathing seemed louder; so did his, and it seemed she could even make out the echo of heartbeats.

'Have you considered what it would be like if you had stayed a digimon?' the boy asked. 'If you haven't, you might want to soon. The door'll open soon, and you wouldn't want to miss it – or maybe you would.' He laughed suddenly. 'Oh well, not really my problem. The only one I'm interested in is _her_.'

He slipped off his seat and vanished, and the smell of noodles wafting over from the cart hit her suddenly. She doubled over on the bench she sat on and threw up on the pavement.

She never did get his name.


	7. Confrontation

Yutaka didn't think it was a good idea, but Tommy had been insistent.

'It's Takuya's birthday!' he'd complained, every time the elder Himi tried to convince him to stay home. 'I can't miss it!'

And he really didn't look that sick now. He wasn't going to the bathroom every five minutes, which was an improvement. And their mother had made sure to get plenty of food and fruit smoothies into him over the past few days – which seemed to be the only thing that ever worked in diarrhoea and vomiting. Yutaka had tried to do the usual big brother thing – try to wheedle/force out a possible reason in between keeping Tommy occupied when he was under bed-rest – but the only thing it _could_ have been it seemed was catching the Zoe girl's stomach bug.

Tommy had been up in knots about it; while once he would have lapped up the attention, he acted in this most recent illness as though the very world was coming to an end. Yet another thing that seemed to have changed from the last couple of months, Yutaka reflected, watching Tommy curled up on the seat opposite. While he could now eat a packet of chips without excreting it straight away, his stomach was still rather tender.

But Tommy claimed to be feeling well enough to go to his friend's birthday party, and his parents had already given permission, so there shouldn't have been anything for Yutaka to worry about. After all, people came down with bugs all the time, and they passed within a few days – a week at the most. But, somehow, he was extra worried about this one. Worried enough to escort his brother in a train said brother had gone in several times before.

The train stopped at Shibuya station, and their compartment got a little fuller. When people approached their seats Yutaka got up and sat next to his brother, and a young woman sat in the recently vacated spot.

No-one sat next to her. The train started moving again, and the woman considered Yutaka for a moment, thanked him, and then proceeded to stare at his brother.

'Is that your brother?' she asked finally.

Yutaka looked at Tommy – who had shut his eyes at some point and looked to be dozing, before answering in the affirmative.

'I've always wanted a little brother myself,' the woman said with a smile. 'Some of my friends had them – and I suppose you could say I had surrogate younger siblings as well.'

'Babysitting?' Yutaka asked. He didn't usually carry on random conversations in trains, but that was because no-one really started them.

'Travelling,' the woman replied.' Our…job requires a lot of travelling about: me, my boyfriend, his brother, brother's best friend, _her_ brother, said brother's junior…and a couple of other people. The secret sort of job,' she added, seeing the other's befuddled expression.

Yutaka nodded and went along with it. The woman's matter-of-fact way of speaking unnerved him slightly, but the conversation was engaging enough. 'I suppose you all get close in that sort of environment,' he said.

'More or less,' the woman replied. 'Some more than others; some who've broken away from us, others who are out of our reach. It's been a long time after all.'

Yutaka thought he saw a hint of sadness in her eyes, but then it was gone and replaced with that tender clarity. As though she was any woman looking to get married and have kids, and was fawning over every adorable child she saw.

Something told Yutaka the woman was very _very_ different.

'I'm Sora,' the woman said, almost absent-mindedly. 'Sora Takenouchi.'

'Yutaka,' Yutaka replied, holding on to his surname.

'Himi,' Sora finished.

Yutaka was taken aback. 'Well…yes,' he said, 'but how did -?'

'Your brother's name is Tommy,' she interrupted, returning to the matter-of-fact voice by which she had listed her attachments. Sounding somewhat mechanical – and downright creepy, Yutaka decided. It didn't help that they were going through a tunnel at that point, and the lights were flicking.

'You worry about your brother,' Sora continued, standing up and putting a hand on the other's forehead, before frowning sadly. 'He's so young. Reminds me of –'

There was a screeching sound and Yutaka missed the next bit. He didn't care anyway, because when he looked at his brother the other's face was grey and his chest barely moving.

He stood himself, but then the lights went off and he was thrown. He thought he saw his brother tumble, and the woman – Sora – grab him, but then they were gone as well.

When he woke up, the lights were back on, the train was moving, and neither Sora nor Tommy were anywhere to be seen. Sora's purse was there though, and he picked it up.


	8. Howl

Hikaru was playing with something in the backyard. Koji didn't know what, but there wasn't anything to choke on so he wasn't too worried. What Takuya was saying on the other hand…

'So there's a Doggymon loose in the real world?'

' _No_.' Takuya sounded exasperated, but it was hardly anyone else's fault for getting confused when he send the conversation in several different directions at once. 'Ex-Veemon took care of him; I'm telling you there _was_ one.'

Koji sighed. 'My mistake,' he said, though he could have meant past or present with the contraction. 'And other Digidestined?'

'That would explain why no-one was panicking about Lucemon's appearance in the real world,' Koichi spoke up, static clouding his voice part-way and leading Takuya to glare at the phone.

'Geez, all electronics are going downhill.'

Koji might have shared a smile with his brother, if said brother had been physically present and not talking through speaker-phone. 'Don't complain,' was what he said instead. 'At least the phones are working.'

'Uck, don't remind me,' Takuya groaned, remembering how he had tried to call Koji the moment he had gotten home from his little adventure, only to find the phone lines across Shibuya and Shinjuku dead. 'What makes you say Lucemon's appearance didn't cause any panic?' he directed to the phone. 'You weren't – oww!'

Koji pulled his elbow away and glared.

'That wasn't necessary.' Takuya glared right back.

'Apparently it was –' Koji began.

'Guys.' Koichi's sigh sounded a little strange on the phone, but it gave the same effect as it would have had he been there in person, and Koji and Takuya fell silent. Koichi continued: 'They considered it an electrical discharge and that was the end of the matter. It was on the news.'

'The news?' Takuya repeated. 'What twelve year old watches the news?'

'A bored twelve year old who doesn't get many channels to pick from,' was Koichi's dry response – just beating his twin, who had been formulating a more biting retort.

Koji shut his mouth and shrugged to himself. Takuya could be more careful with how he said things, but if Koichi didn't mind, there wasn't really a reason for him to. 'Are you feeling okay?' he asked instead, scrunching his face slightly.

'This is an odd time.' Koichi sounded amused. 'But I'm fine; why?'

'I think I have a headache,' Koji replied, rubbing his forehead.

In the silence that followed, he realise he _did_ have a headache. And then Hikaru was howling outside, and the static was so loud they couldn't hear what Koichi was saying in reply. Koji put his head in his lap, and Takuya stared between the phone and his friend.

'Hey,' he said, concerned. 'Are you okay?'

Koji ignored the question. 'What in the world is Hikaru howling at?'

Takuya checked.

Apparently, Hikaru had managed to stumble onto a little white cat who knew how to fight back. And there was a young woman in his backyard too – his brother's kindergarden teacher if he wasn't mistaken – apologising and gently scratching at the scratch on the dog's belly.

'I'm very sorry,' the woman said, as she caught sight of him. 'I'm afraid Gatomon doesn't like being chased by dogs.'

'Err – ' Takuya began, before shaking himself. 'That's a digimon, right?'

'I should think I am,' the cat sniffed, before blinking. 'You're –'

' – the one Davis told us about,' the woman finished, before blinking as Hikaru tore past her and towards the door where Koji was now standing.

'Your headache's better?' Takuya asked.

Koji glared, before looking questioningly at their two…guests.

'I gather he's your friend then?' the woman asked, looking at Koji.

'Yeah,' Koji replied. 'You are..?'

'Oh, I'm sorry.' She bowed hurriedly, without losing the politeness and grace that came with her adulthood. 'I'm Kari. Kari Kamiya.'

Takuya nodded to himself. This _was_ Shinya's kindergarden teacher.


	9. Chimeric

Davis had told Kari all about the new Digidestined he had met, and it had unnerved her.

Somehow the idea of _becoming_ Digimon was just…wrong. Merging with them, like the "biomerge" that Takato had told about. Physically becoming them, like the "spirit evolution".

She'd never told Davis the truth of what happened. She'd never told him how she saw them, sometimes. How she went back, sometimes, on her own. How she saw them, looking so much like their old friends and family one moment, before twisting into something beastly the next. 'A new level,' they said. 'Perfection.' She saw them more like chimeras: the twisted results of meddling with things that shouldn't have been meddled with. Human lives seized by a virus and torn apart and distorted so that they believed they were better off the way they now were – _whatever_ they were. If only she could have found Ken on one of her excursions – or if only Gatomon could find her old friend. But no, it was only the evil of the past that returned, like that Devimon that wore the mask of their dear Patamon. Like the Piedmon that had killed Ken.

Kari never told any of it to Davis; all she'd said was that they could no longer go to the Digital World, and he had believed her. Oh, he knew there was more to the story; so did Willis, but neither of them pushed her. She had given Ken's pendant to Davis too, so he would be safe. Safe like Ken should have been – but if Ken hadn't been killed, she would have watched Davis succumb as well.

She shook her head, eyes stinging with unshed tears. It had been years ago, and they had lost more friends over the years. Friends they barely knew, had fought with only twice: during their trip around the world, and again against MaloMyotismon. There were a few glitches too – though that was more Willis bringing it to her attention. People disappearing for a few months before reappearing several days before their disappearance. She wondered if it was Gennai's doing – or more of the Chimera-like Digidestineds/partners – except she'd only seen them in the Digital World, and only for short periods of time. She felt the effects for longer though; she'd developed a sort of second-sight for them.

But the new Digidestined were another matter. Davis hadn't thought anything unusual about them; in fact, he seemed to find kindred spirits in the pair. It had seemed the one called "Takuya" had a headache though – but when she and Gatomon had gone to find them (since Davis had dropped the two boys home, she knew where they lived) they'd caught the attention of a dog in a backyard.

Rather, Gatomon's tail had caught his attention, and Gatomon wasn't too happy at a paw swiping at her tail, and jumped the fence to strike back. It was, perhaps, a stroke of fortune that the boy they'd been going to visit had been visiting the dog's owner himself – and showed no traces of the headache he'd been nursing before. Instead, it was the dog's owner who had the headache. Another one of those Digidestined who did spirit evolution. Those legendary warriors.

And now that she had found two of these legendary warriors, she had no idea what to tell them. Or if she should tell them anything at all – or just help them find a way to protect themselves.


	10. Glitch

Yutaka had found a number in the purse, and tried calling it. It seemed like an ordinary enough number, and he didn't think anything _would_ be unusual about it…until the operator told him it would cost thirteen ice-cream cones for the next four seconds.

When he'd gotten his head back on straight, hung up the phone and done the mental arithmetic, he'd decided that phone call would have been ridiculously high-priced – and, if he had been younger and more open-minded, out if this world. He'd also decided that either the number or telephone operations had a glitch somewhere, since ice cream didn't qualify as currency _anywhere_.

He called his brother's cell instead – which rang in his back pocket. Then his friends, because Tommy might have found himself in the station, like a lot of stray passengers, and simply headed over to one of their houses. Like Takuya's, where they had been planning on going. Or JP's because it was closer. After all, trying to find someone in any station was a tall order; he might've headed off and then forgotten to call.

But it was rapidly diminishing as a possibility as JP failed to pick up and Takuya said he hadn't seen anyone. He also added that there wouldn't be much of a party; as welcome as everyone would be, it seemed that only half their group was in good health. Takuya did emphasise though that there was something he needed to talk to Tommy about, so if he could call, if not come, that would be greatly appreciated.

Yutaka found himself saying he didn't _know_ where Tommy was – which got the other's attention.

'You mean he's missing?!'

Yutaka told what had happened on the train. Takuya covered the phone and muttered to somebody on the other end, then uncovered it again. 'Shinya hasn't seen him either.' There was a pause, then he added: 'I'll call Koji. Zoe's parents are taking her to the hospital, so there's no point ringing her.'

Yutaka thanked him and hung up, looking for the number of the last of Tommy's friends in his brother's phone. It was a land-line number, he noted: a problem if the boy wasn't at home – but he was, luckily.

Though he hadn't seen him either.

'He might be stuck on the train,' Koichi, quite ironically in Yutaka's opinion, said. 'There's something blocking all the trains.'

Which is why he'd had to wait for his mother to drive him instead of taking one.

'He _was_ on the train,' Yutaka explained, covering his ears as a loud burst of static screamed from the station's intercom. 'With me. He's not now.'

He explained the rest of the story, to which Koichi was as baffled as Takuya was.

'You think that woman had something to do with it?' he asked tentatively.

'Who else could have taken him? He was practically unconscious – ' Yutaka's voice shook a bit.

'Calm down,' the other said, sounding a tad panicked himself, though he returned to his calm tone thereafter. 'You said this woman had a number you couldn't call?'

'I wouldn't say I _couldn't_ ,' Yutaka said, but he gave the number when it was requested. Maybe it was the phone company acting up, he thought, but evidentially Koichi hadn't thought so, as he asked Yutaka to stay on the line as he went to get something.

He was back in a moment and tapping something into – something. A computer? Yutaka guessed – but then the other cried out in surprise and dropped the something. Smaller than a computer, because it made a minute clatter on a tiled floor.

'Virus?'

Koichi sounded like he was talking – or reading – to himself at this point, and Yutaka could make neither head nor tail of it. What did a virus have to do with anything, after all? Unless…

'Tommy's virus, you mean?'

'No…' The boy still sounded distant, and Yutaka wasn't sure if the "no" was addressed to him or not. 'The number…you gave… It just says…virus…'

That made absolutely no sense to Yutaka, but he couldn't help but think it was someone's sick idea of a joke. 'I'm telling the police about Tommy,' he said resolutely. _This is getting nowhere._ The crowds had finally begun thinning, and he could see a pair of blue-uniformed men talking and writing on a pad in the corner.

'I don't think – ' Koichi began, now sounding more focused, but before he could finish whatever he was going to say, a screech of static interrupted the call and Yutaka was left listening to the dial-tone.


	11. Recipe

Tommy felt cool hands that grounded him, then hot hands then burnt, then cool hands soothing his brow like a mother would, and it confused him. Someone was singing too, he thought. Singling loudly, though it seemed his head was stuffed to the brim with fog and static and he could barely make out the works.

But it was relaxing, and soothing – although the static sometimes shrieked and hurt, just like the hands suddenly became as hot as fire and burnt – but on the whole it was calming, and he let himself fall asleep.

When he awoke again, the singing was gentler and over a cooking pot, and its smell was wafting over and making his stomach growl.

The woman bent over the pot heard him and smiled with relief. 'Easy there,' she called. 'You'll still need a bit of time to get used to the transition.'

_Transition?_ Tommy wondered, before realising he was in a cave, instead of a train where he'd last been.

'Nice place?' the woman asked, though not lightly. In fact, she seemed rather sombre in all, something that made her look old and worn and sad. Like a nurse who'd had to see too many ill patients…or something like that. 'I'm afraid it's not much, but it's best to be out of the way of…everything else.'

Tommy sat up, taking the cave in. 'Who are you?' he asked. 'Are you a friend of my brother's? Where are we? What happened to the train?'

'My name is Sora,' the woman replied. 'I am…acquainted with your brother, I suppose. The train ran into something on the tracks. I don't know what, but it's caused a panic. We're in the Digital World – your Digital World actually, because you're more familiar with it.'

'More familiar?' Tommy didn't get what that had to do with anything.

The woman spooned out a bowl of broth and handed it to him. 'My mother's recipe,' she said. 'It's always good for a pick-me-up – you're feeling okay now, right?'

Tommy blinked, realising he didn't feel nearly as sick as he had before. In fact, that sickness just seemed like an echo in his chest. 'Y-yeah.'

She smiled, though she still seemed sad about something. 'Eat up,' she advised. 'Then we'll see how you're doing.'

He ate. Then she instructed him to walk about; he did, feeling for some reason small. She watched him thoughtfully.

'Can you fly?' she asked, abruptly.

'Fly?' Tommy repeated, confused.

Sora rephrased the question. 'Can any of your Digimon forms fly?'

Tommy shook his head; as much as he wished he could sometimes, that was a no go.

'Any special sort of movement?' she asked. 'Good at jumping? Wheels?'

'Skiing I suppose.' Though Tommy didn't see why it was relevant, considering he couldn't become Kumamon any more.

'Try it then,' she ordered, pointing at the snowy slope just beyond the cave.

'In my shoes?' Tommy all but squeaked.

'It might help if you took them off.'

Tommy shook his head; that sounded even worse, walking across snow in socks or his bare feet – or worse, sliding down it. But she pressed the matter, pointing out the fire roaring in their cave would feed off any cold he likely wouldn't catch, and he tried it, finding, to his surprise, he'd managed to sprout a pair of skies the moment his first foot touched a decent patch of snow.

Sora flew down to meet him at the end of the slope. Literally flew, and Tommy's head was buzzing because he didn't understand what was going on. 'Haven't you guessed?' the woman asked, flapping her wings to keep hovering.

Tommy looked at himself. He didn't look like Kumamon at all – or feel like him. But he was starting to feel less like _Tommy_ too.

'You're both,' Sora said, in reply to his befuddled question. 'And neither. It's like combining the human and digimon parts and then evolving: something that surpasses both human and digimon and ascends their limitations. We call them Saints: the higher beings that live on in a dying world. _Ascendant_ Saints.'

The way she spoke though, she didn't sound much as though she agreed with her own words. And Tommy felt cold, because it sounded an awful lot like he'd never be what he'd just been again – he'd never see his parents, his friends, his brother…but…

'The others?' He shivered a bit. 'What will happen to the others?'

'That depends,' she said quietly, 'on a great many things.'

Just like part of his fate had depended on her – choosing whether to touch that _thing_ that burnt to save him, or to help him change. Choosing what information to give, what point of view. What hope…and what despair.


	12. Visit

She hadn't managed to figure out what to say, and then, suddenly, she didn't have to. The scene just fell apart into chaos, and the end result was her sobbing against the rough scratching bark of a familiar park tree. The picnic tree, they'd called it, because in the old days they'd always have a picnic underneath it. She'd even had a picnic there in her dream: that dream that MaloMyotismon had twisted and used against her.

But in the lonely years that followed their deaths it was a place of solitude; it was only Davis who'd visit her there, and Gatomon who came along with her. Even those ghosts that refused to settle didn't come – but that didn't stop them haunting her in other places.

Like a teen that looked like TK, but a couple of years older, playing under her window with his Patamon – or Tsukaimon,as it sometimes appeared in the darkness. So like Patamon, but purple instead orange; yellow instead of green. A fighter instead of a mellow companion that preferred rides on hats than hard-fisted brawls, and they'd yell and scream and somehow no-one would hear them but her.

Or, sometimes, a woman with orange hair on a train, silent and sad. Or someone playing music that sounded terribly like Matt – or an internet ID that was eerily clever, reminding her of both Izzy and someone else – someone who's name she remembered. Or a teen with long purple hair in the shops, trying to decide between three different flavours of chips and two different flavours of biscuits.

And then there was her brother – or the ghost of her brother, appearing everywhere and anywhere and stopping her breath every time. In her room the instant her four walls lulled her into security and peace. On the soccer field when she watched the last of her teammates live, disappearing before Davis could even turn. On the streets randomly…and all different ages: five, fifteen, twenty-something… Sometimes with Agumon, sometimes with another covered in black, sometimes on his own.

That time it had been BlackAgumon, and the miasma clashed with Gatomon's ring she still wore. The mix of that, the uprooting she still could not overcome, and the weakness against darkness it seemed she could never defeat. It was enough to reduce her to a little child quaking under the bed, and all she'd seen before she'd fled were her the lips of her brother's ghost moving and causing the leaves overhead to rustle.

Gatomon had taken a bit to follow after her, sprouting some fresh claw marks that showed how solid the twisted ghost of her brother's partner was, and that just terrified her even more.

Her hands pricked and stung and she didn't sleep that night, and it was only when the sun slipped through her thin white curtains could she tell herself the ghosts wouldn't be coming back for a while. And it was when she could look into the mirror and see herself, fully grown, that she could remember she was an adult and a protector, rather than just a child and a protected.

But when she tried to get back to that house, _he_ was still in the shadows, waiting, and she sensed him before she could approach.


	13. Preparation

When Yutaka's panic reached Koichi's ears, the elder twin had to steel himself against what might come. Because, while Koichi didn't know Yutaka _that_ well, he knew the other to be calm and rational and the last person one would expect to overreact, even concerning his younger brother. Yutaka claimed it was because Tommy used to be a spoilt brat – which none of the Legendary Warriors, least of all Koichi, could really attest to. But Yutaka wouldn't panic if Tommy was an hour or so late going home, or forgot to tell his family his plans, or vanished into the crowd in a shopping complex. But Yutaka was panicking now, which meant something serious had happened.

When Yutaka explained Tommy had vanished _right from his arms_ – well, Koichi had a hard time not panicking himself. But that wouldn't do anyone any good, so he thought. And asked for the number Yutaka said didn't seem to exist in their world, because one thing that could cause crazy stuff to happen was the Digital World.

He tried the number on his D-tector; if it was a Digivice number, it should work. Or that's what he guessed, but instead, the screen spat out one word. "Virus." And then it spat a bunch of static that made him drop his D-tector.

'Virus?' he said to himself, reaching for the device again.

Yutaka said something on the other end, to which he replied. Most of him was occupied though, worried about how Tommy had disappeared, so close to where the others had gone through to the Digital World before. And he wondered about that woman that seemed to have unnerved Yutaka, and why the number in her purse had given such results.

But then the phone suddenly disconnected and the street-lights outside flashed on and off, and he dropped his D-tector again as it threw more static into the air.

A shadow fell over it when he reached for it again, and he shrieked and stumbled back, dropping the phone. Because he was the only one home. Because the sun was sending his own shadow the other way. Because there wasn't any _thing_ near enough to cast a shadow and certainly not so suddenly. Because there must be someone else there – someone who'd gotten in without him noticing at all.


	14. Virus

If Zoe hadn't already thrown up in the car, she would have at the waiting room's antiseptic smell. _Honestly_ , she grumbled to herself, _they could do something about the patients who come to them with weak stomachs_.

Except she didn't have anything left in her stomach to throw up, and she was stuck curled into a miserable ball by her father's side.

Being sick sucked; worse was waiting for a Doctor and being surrounded by other sick people – though she'd learnt the hard way that healthy people didn't make much better company. Like when she'd gone out with her friends and the smell of ramen, something she usually loved, managed to make her lose her breakfast on the sidewalk. Her friends had dropped her straight home, and she'd stayed there for a few days afterwards until she was throwing up even water and no antibacterial or antiviral was helping her.

They'd thought it was a virus that'd go away with time, but it hadn't, and finally her parents brought her to a Doctor. By that point, Zoe was feeling too weak to complain about the trip; her father had practically carried her in, and she seemed incapable of holding herself upright in the chair. Her mother was talking with the receptionist – and possibly muttering at the slow service under her breath. But a stomach bug wasn't emergency enough for the emergency room, and Zoe was awake enough to be relieved she _wasn't_ in a hospital waiting room. She'd been not too long ago, after Koichi's trip at Shibuya Station, and that was more than enough.

She wondered if she'd run into Tommy in the waiting room; it certainly seemed like there was enough of a line – but no, she thought. He might be heading to Takuya's; his mother said he was feeling a little better, when she'd called Zoe's mother. She wished she was too, but there wouldn't be much point. The birthday cake would probably set her off – not to mention the longer car ride. And, with her luck, she'd spread whatever bug she'd caught to her other friends – though her girl-friends had gotten away scot free, so they might not. But Tommy had come to visit her, and then gotten sick, so it was a definite possibility. Her mother had warned Koji and Takuya away the next day.

She felt guilty about that, but couldn't spend too long moping – even with all the time in the world. A sad stomach was the worst of her troubles, but the lethargy that dragged her was troublesome. She felt like a bird whose wings were covered in cobwebs, a bird unable to fight and forced to drag its belly on the ground with the near-useless weight. And then there was the annoying buzz behind her eyes and ears, the one that had made her throw up in the car, and sometimes at home when there's nothing else to trigger it.

It was only because her stomach had long since been empty that she didn't throw up now – though, she thought morbidly, if the smell was any stronger she'd probably be dry-retching. And with that thought, she was back to thought number one and groggily grumbling to herself about the smell of the Doctor's waiting room.


	15. Lightless

'I'm starting to think men simply aren't meant to cross dimensions,' Jim Kido groaned, throwing down his notes in frustration, 'except that would mean I'm related to an alien.'

'That's not a bad theory,' Professor Takenouchi mumbled, only half-listening as he scrolled through journal article after journal article on the computer. 'But we'll work on that later; what's wrong with machine?'

It had been working just a few days ago. Or not "working" per say, since they hadn't seen any interdimensional holes open up in space, but they had been able to provide power to all aspects of it. They'd tested that by stringing light bulbs across and connecting them at various points: a full circuit would light them all up, and an incomplete circuit would light up some to none.

They'd gotten the full circuit before, but now they were at square zero. If the machine couldn't access its power source, then they had no way to experiment with different energies.

'And here I was, thinking we'd actually get a chance to find the universe's frequency,' Doctor Shibayama said, though he was a little more optimistic than the other two. He was slightly less invested as well, being the engineer who did the building and maintenance as opposed to the guys trying to figure out answers to unknown questions with it. 'Let's see what's wrong with this baby.'

He poked and prodded with his tools and tangled wires up but found nothing. 'Is the power even connected?' he called out, voice echoing a little in the cylinder.

'Sure it's connected,' Jim said, 'The Professor's laptop – ' Then he remembered that laptops had battery life, and the Professor had downloaded those papers beforehand. So he checked: flipped the switch, and found it stayed off.

'The sun's a wonderful source of energy,' Professor Takenouchi mused. 'In fact, Ra – '

But his coworkers didn't get to hear the story about Ra, because the sunlight simply vanished, and they were left with only the dim light of the Professor's laptop.

Mr Shibayama cursed when he hit his head inside the machine, trying to get out. The Professor on the other hand was speculatively curious. 'Well,' he said finally, after peering unsuccessfully into the sky. 'There are several possibilities.'

'What are they, Professor?' asked Jim, trying to keep the panic out of his voice.

'Either the night has snuck up upon us while we were engrossed in work – ' which, while likely for him, was not so for the other two, ' – the sun has been suddenly hidden behind thick clouds – ' which was possible, but they'd expect a rainstorm with clouds _that_ black, and it was silent, ' – or the sun has been separated from our plane.'

Which honestly wasn't more likely than the other two, but aside from Mr Shibayama, they'd seem some pretty strange stuff. They were related to Digidestined after all. And Mr Shibayama was as well, though he was yet to know of it.

What was more important was the sudden lack of sunlight. Which meant the temperature would drop – drastically, if it'd vanished off the face of the earth. And they humans were too fragile to survive such dramatics.

'It'll pass any time,' Jim whispered nervously. 'And nothing happened even though we had no sun during the whole Dark Masters incident. It'll be fine. It'll be fine.'

'Or it could be the D-reaper incident all over again,' Professor Takenouchi said, attention finally full on something other than his notes.


	16. Beautiful

Koji heard the music lap up the final dregs of his own like a starving beast.

He put down his guitar and stared at the white light spilling through tightly drawn curtains as the flimsy lamp-light shuddered and shrank a little further into the shadows. He'd brought up a few candles too, but they were for an emergency and currently unlit. He didn't want to light them anyway, because they were the scented kind and they always made him cough – something his father usually commented was healthy – but he'd just gotten over another cold.

His throat was still a little raw, and he most certainly didn't want to be coughing again. Hence why he'd restringed his guitar to pass the time, since it was too dark to do homework or read, and the power had gone off too many times in the last few days for the computer to be an option.

And he needed to do something, because the darkness made him uncomfortable. It was his brother's element after all, not his – and he'd been unable to reach his brother for the last few days. Phone lines were as bad as the power, perhaps worse, as phone calls were often diverted into weird places. The last woman he'd talked to had wanted seventeen pizzas for him to hang up the phone, something that still made little sense.

But although the darkness made him uncomfortable, he could tolerate it. The white light he watched slowly bleach his curtains was another thing entirely. His head spun and his vision fluxed, as though he was looking directly into the sun and it burned away his eyes –

Except there was no sun, no warmth save the heater spitting its life and the song that reached toward him, towards them.

But then he heard the chant, repeating as though the entire world was echoing it.

'Come! Legendary Warrior of Light!'

Almost like a dream, he moved to the window and pressed his hand to the cold glass. It pulled at some cord within him, made him want to pull away, and yet the music and those voices called, and the light made his head spin nauseatingly but pulled him closer all the same.

'Come! The frost of the heart will never reach you here!'

He hesitated, hand on the clasp that held his window shut. But then the call came again and he opened the window, jumping softly onto the grass a storey below and shooting towards the light.


	17. Vertigo

Yutaka heard a voice calling him and craned his neck to find Koichi staring at him a little further ahead. It was as though the boy had run past him before realising, and, seeing Koichi looked rather out of breath as well, that wasn't so bad an assumption.

'Did you find Tommy?' Yutaka asked.

'No,' Koichi said distractedly as though thinking about something else. He began moving again, cutting quickly through the crowds and Yutaka followed him hurriedly, even as they went down a flight of stairs. Surprisingly, Koichi didn't slow down; Yutaka wondered if he'd even noticed, considering he'd taken a bad fall on those same stairs once before. 'He's in the Digital World, I think. But first, we need the – stay up here!'

Yutaka started as the other suddenly jumped onto the basement tracks and vanished into the dark. Yutaka did say for a moment, silent and frozen and heart pounding in his chest, but then he heard the sound of something screeching and saw flashing lights, and he followed them in the darkness.

Koichi's voice stopped him from stepping off the edge. He didn't say "I told you to stay" or anything similar though, and Yutaka was grateful. Maybe Koichi knew how it felt, being an older brother himself. Or maybe his task was too important to worry about anything else.

But Yutaka was worried about his brother, and he hadn't gotten a good answer yet. 'What's the Digital World?' he asked the darkness.

There was the sound of something moving before the answer came. 'The Digital World is…another world. A world where monsters come alive and children try and become heroes and grow up in the process.'

Short, confusing, and yet to the point. Yutaka accepted that. 'So that's how Tommy met all of you. And how he'd suddenly matured when he came home.'

'Yeah.' Koichi still sounded distracted. 'But now there's some sort of virus that's targeting the Digidestined.'

'A virus?' The stomach pains, the sweating, the vomiting…

'He said they were here… Found them!'

Yutaka started at the sudden shout, but Koichi's tone deflated quickly enough. His next words sounded like a defeated snarl. 'Of course there's just two; what am I supposed to –'

He's cut off again, this time from twin lights coming out of the tunnel. A train was coming it seemed, and Koichi was suddenly bathed in light, his expression panicked as he threw his finds up onto the platform and sprinted for the edge.

Yutaka helped him up as the train whipped past, and they both winced at the sound of grating as the first carriages shoved through rubble Yutaka hadn't seen since then. He stepped back automatically as the last of the carriages came into view, stepping on one of the things Koichi had tossed onto the platform.

They felt like bangles, he thought, but just as he looked down, the ground and everything around him turned white. Koichi cried something again, but Yutaka couldn't hear it; he could only feel the pressure of whatever he was stepping on imprinting through his shoe, and his own grip on the other boy's arm. Soon, he couldn't feel even that; he could only feel his body being uprooted and the white spinning out of focus, giving way to black and yellow dots on a blank canvas, and then nothing.

**. . .**

He woke up feeling dizzy and weak, with Koichi crouched over him, looking concerned.

'Throw up,' he advised, turning away when he realised the other was awake. 'You'll feel better.'

Yutaka did, grimacing at the taste that clung to the roof of his mouth as he did. But they were at a riverside, and the evidence was soon washed away – and he _did_ feel better in a bit, though no less confused at the change of scenery.

Especially when he noticed the golden band on his wrist, with etchings he couldn't understand, and an identical looking band on Koichi's left wrist, with the right one gripping it as though he was about to pull it off at any minute.

'What – ' he began. He didn't finish though; he didn't _need_ to finish, because Koichi had the answer at the tip of the tongue.

Though the tone of it frightened Yutaka a little, because he didn't see Tommy's friends too often, but when he did Koichi was always the calm, reasonable one in the face of his brother and brother's best friend's squabbling.

'It's the thing that can stop the virus from taking root.' Koichi still didn't turn around to face Yutaka, instead looking intently at the band, hands clenching into fists, body shaking. 'What can just two Holy Rings do? There are six of _us_ , not to mention all the other children who came here, and all the other Digidestined!'


	18. Hitchhiker

Yutaka was absolutely lost. He didn't understand where they were, or what Koichi had gotten upset about. And, after that initial outburst, the younger boy had been strangely silent, simply walking in a straight line.

Yutaka really hoped he knew where he was going. Or he was hoping to flag a passing car or something for directions and a lift – but they hadn't seen cars, just strange blobby creatures of varying sizes and overall appearances running in the opposite direction.

Some of them squeaked out advice, mostly along the lines of "don't go that way", but no request for more information was heard as they disappeared from view. And Koichi would pause for the briefest of moments and then continue walking.

'You…do know where you're going, right?' Yutaka asked eventually.

'Yeah,' was the short, though not irate, reply.

'And where is that?'

'I don't know.'

Yutaka shook his head. 'Too confusing,' he said to himself, deciding it wasn't worth asking where they were either. He looked down at the bangle around his wrist: the Holy Ring, as Koichi had called it. Fighting some sort of virus, he'd mentioned. If Koichi was in more of a talkative mood, Yutaka would ask for more information. But the short answers weren't too encouraging; they didn't invite conversation, or explanation.

If Yutaka didn't know that something was bothering the other, he would have thought the other was simply trying to get out of their current area as fast as possible. He was certainly walking fast, fast enough that Yutaka with his longer strides could feel a strain in his hamstrings while keeping up. If nothing else, it said that Koichi was used to walking.

But the silence bothered Yutaka. He needed answers; he had things on his mind as well, like where his brother was. And wandering around in a strange scene that had came out of nowhere was not helping that. There was something ominous that stopped him from being stubborn and demanding them though, something that said the place he was in wasn't as innocent as it seemed. And not just because of those little blobs – that had gotten less frequent, he noticed, as they continued walking up – and what they'd been saying. None of them had looked panicked after all. If anything, they looked like they were playing a game.

It turned out they _were_ playing a game when an orange dragon-like monster came running past them. Yutaka started, but Koichi seemed unconcerned (though his head had turned slightly and followed the moving figure until he finished), so Yutaka wrote it off as another thing that was normal in this place he knew nothing about.

He wanted to know why Koichi _did_ seem to, or why he didn't seem fazed if he wasn't. So when a clown-like creature suddenly appeared before them, Yutaka wondered if that was also a regular part of things.

Except Koichi had stopped short and tensed, right hand sneaking into his pocket and grasping something inside hard enough for his knuckles to turn white.

The clown's smile suddenly looked eerie to Yutaka.


	19. Endless

Pain was supposed to be fleeting. It was supposed to come and go and leave a dull echo behind, the sort of echo she could whine about for a few days before normalcy returned – but when the pain didn't leave, she could do nothing save curl into a ball and grit her teeth.

And it stayed so long. It was worse than her period cramps, which scaled to her fainting on a train once to the ache that went away with some Panadol. Because she couldn't get out of bad without crumpling into a ball, and not even the morphine they gave her at the hospital would drive the pain away. And when it did finally fade, it felt so strange, like an echo in an empty space that shouldn't be there. And she'd been curled up into a ball so long every muscle in her body protested the unfurling and refused to obey her, as if they were new muscles and the old ones had crumbled to dust from her pain. And other things filled that space: sharp stings from the atmosphere that blanketed her. Near-silent shrieks that sounded unnaturally loud in silence. Little stabs of light that looked all the more powerful when framed by darkness…

She pushed herself up: wavering, fragile. The smirk that met her was anything but, and yet she didn't feel much of anything from it. He looked vaguely familiar: someone she'd seen in passing a few times perhaps, but that was it. Though some stray thought in the back of her mind – also filled with the same mist that clung to her muscles and hollow within – that made her think she should know him better than that, or rather, of him.

But his voice rang of unfamiliarity as he spoke, easy on her ears that stung from everything else. His words made little sense to here though, and they failed to pique her curiosity; the pain she'd been living with had faded now, but it had given way to lethargy and that still remained.

'Want to sleep until it's all over?' the not-stranger asked, that easy smirk still on his face and his voice still the only thing that didn't sting. 'Or want to shake it all off and take those wings for a test drive?'

She flexed her wings slowly: two magnificent folds of iridescence: purple and pink and a pale brown melding together in a natural harmony. Another stray thought flew past: why did she have wings? That seemed strange – but at the same time it seemed completely natural, and the one in front of her seemed to think it natural too.

She shook herself before forcing her protesting muscles to move, to move the way _she_ wanted them to move. She figured it out in a bit; they were more amiable once her entire body weight wasn't on her legs, and her wings were strong enough. So she hovered a few feet over the bed before straightening in the air, feeling the tension slide from her body as though this, off the ground, in the air, was how she was always meant to be.

The other whistled appreciatively. 'Saint indeed,' he said. She still didn't know what that meant, but for the time being, she didn't care.


	20. Echoes

'Piedmon,' Koichi breathed. He didn't know the Digimon personally, but most Demon Man Digimon had a…rather bad reputation. Piedmon was no exception, and worse, he and Yutaka were almost completely vulnerable.

He gripped his D-tector hard enough to make his fingers tingle. Yutaka just looked surprise, though Koichi thought his own reaction was changing that plain surprise into something more sinister. Piedmon appeared deceptively unthreatening after all – except when the smile became a smirk and the dagger came out.

Yutaka yelled in alarm and fumbled for a weapon on the ground – a stick, which he held uselessly in front of him. Koichi pulled his D-tector free, calling his data forth, searching for something, _anything,_ in his device that could help them. His spirits weren't there anymore. But he had the data he'd scanned: the two Phantommon.

He seized the data of one and wrapped it around his body.

**.**

Yutaka stared as the boy before him turned into a grim reaper incarnate. His jaw slacked. The stick he'd found clattered uselessly to the ground. The silence of the forest they hadn't quite reached screamed, terrified at him. He was terrified too; not only was a clown appearing so threatening, but a boy who normally looked serious and threatening had turned into a floating cloth with a ball and scythe.

When the dagger came towards him he did scream; he couldn't help it, and it was too fast for him to do anything more. But not for reaper! Koichi; the grey cloth was covering him suddenly and he was fading, wandering lost in the fog.

The only source of light he had was the bangle-like thing around his wrist.

**.**

Piedmon smirked. 'Hiding your friend I see. No matter; I'll simply add the two of you to my collection.'

Koichi didn't ask what collection; he knew Phantommon's data, as an ultimate level Digimon, would be no match against a Mega level. Their only hope was to give him the slip somehow.

The scythe felt strange in his hands. Worse, the voices of the spirits of the Digital World were loud – louder than the labyrinth that had almost drowned him had been. But he couldn't think of either of those things now; Yutaka was safe, for now, inside the orb. But they both needed to get to the forest, where hopefully no trap awaited them.

But springing a trap would be worth the answers he was hoping for. He hoped.

And when a new – _something_ – made its appearance, Koichi took the chance to take to the shadows and flee. He didn't stop to look at what it was, just to make sure it wasn't following them and neither was Piedmon – and they weren't. They seemed occupied with each other.

And the longer they stayed occupied, the better for them.


	21. Rapidly

Things had suddenly started to get wild.

It was a bit of a shame. Sora preferred when the wind was quiet, and tame. Not that she didn't mind her guest. It was nice to have someone young around, someone she could mother. TK had grown up and into that phase where he hated being mothered, and there was no-one else…

But now she had Tommy, who was practically a baby in the view of them Saints, still transforming and getting used to his new form and life. He was just like TK as well: forgetting all the things from before and holding on to scraps. Remembering a brother and a brotherly figure and a motherly figure – a place where Sora found she could so easily slot in to. He'd stopped wondering if she'd cut her hair anyway.

She never had. It had stayed short for – goodness, how many years had it been now? Though that didn't really matter. Things like the wind were eternal. Not like the snow that came and went with the seasons. She could fly whenever, wherever, and touch down whenever her wings got tired, or there was something on the ground to call her.

These days, she flew close to the ground and watched a little Saint boy on skates, taking corners and slopes like a clumsy pro. He took a bit of getting used to, and a great many questions. But the more he forgot, the less he asked. As though the world started to become simpler, and make more sense.

He was still the image of a young boy. Sora wondered if he'd grow up like her, or stay the child like TK had. And he wondered how long it would be before their family of Saints grew even more: when the other Digidestined from other groups, like Tommy, became Saints and joined this new world.

And how many would turn rogue and stir up the wind, like whatever was happening on the mountain peak far beyond.

There was a sudden cry and tumble, and Sora swooped down to catch the falling, rolling, boy. She stopped him easily and straightened him. He blinked back tears. 'I tripped,' he said, half a pout, half a wince. 'Suddenly I wasn't skiing any more…'

'You'll get there,' she comforted, rubbing his head gently where he'd knocked it. 'You just need to keep practising.'

He set off again, feet morphing into skates like ripples on the surface of a lake. There was no mark on the bare human feet that had been there for a breath, when he'd tumbled and lost his form. A little while ago, they'd go blue and red and itchy and she'd have to warm them up with water from the hot springs, but that wasn't happening anymore.

When she'd changed, it had taken her a while to fly and command the wind at her will as well.


	22. Eyes

He'd looked just like Tai had back then and he'd given her a fright.

But he wasn't Tai. Not the Tai she'd known anyway. She knew her brother and he didn't have that sort of look his eyes. Ever.

Except for right then. And other times she'd seen him fleetingly, after…that time. That horrible time that had stolen so many of her friends away.

Only Davis and Willis were left. And her. Thanks to Gatomon. Thanks to that Holy Ring she wore on her finger. That stopped that virus from taking over.

But it didn't stop the ghosts from haunting her. Her brother, most often – and yet every time she saw him he scared her out of her wits. Even if he didn't stay for more than a few seconds in her sight. Even if she knew full well he wasn't her brother. Not really.

She was one of those people who'd walked away from the nightmare after all.

But now it was coming back. Days – or maybe it was weeks – after she'd seen the shadow of her brother and run away and drowned herself in memories and bottles of alcohol for occasions just like this, Willis sent her an email. Detailing how his plane had taken a detour through the Digital World.

The Digital World that they thought was safely behind the gates.

It was like the sky was falling again. Like the day she'd found out, definitively, that she was a Digidestined. The day Myotismon faced his first defeat. The day the fog over Odaiba cleared.

She was horrified. Her fingers were twitching, aching for something she couldn't quite reach. The Digital World…and the real world…

She wasn't naïve enough to believe that every person on that plane had been a Digidestined. Willis checked anyway. He emailed her within minutes saying there was no-one else. Just him. But everyone had seen the Digital World. Seen the Digimon.

Everyone could have been contacted with that virus.

Willis sent another email before she could reply. Maybe he was reading her mind. Or maybe he just knew her that well. He said he was taking care of it.

Kari knew that meant he was protecting them. With what he'd spent all that time since the incident researching.

And then a bit after _that_ , there was another email from Willis. They'd met up before that. Once Willis' plane had finally gotten to Tokyo International Airport. But Willis had begun looking in to other things and Kari still had school to teach – even though she couldn't help but notice there were a few students that suddenly stopped showing up…

And then the email. Saying he'd found more Digidestined – children this time – and they were missing one. It was a little unclear. Willis didn't seem to know what had happened to this Henry Wong either. Apart from that it sounded like he had the flu before. But he promised to get back to her after he'd calmed down the others and gotten some clearer answers.

It was sort of funny she was waiting for emails from a guy she'd stopped emailing years ago simply because she wanted to put that chapter of her life behind her.

But there was no doing that.

What she received next, sifting through facebook posts from all the Digidestined she knew, was an email from Davis. That was a bit of a surprise. He usually didn't bother with emails, preferring to come in person and with a bowl of steaming noodles instead. Or just post something random on facebook because then some perfect stranger could also read it and grin. He had a big heart, that Davis.

The email said as much as well. Letting her know that an elementary student he'd met during the runaway Doggymon incident – which had occurred around the same time she'd seen Tai so suddenly – was sick and that's why he hadn't been showing up at school. Apparently he'd run into the boy's little brother.

It wasn't anything ground-breaking on its own, but Kari had totally forgotten about that Digidestined – who was a child even younger than the ones Willis had mentioned. She switched to her work folder, looking for the elementary school's attendance records.

There it was. Takuya Kanbara. Out of school for more than a week now. Frequenting the infirmary before that.

Henry Wong was a Digidestined that had had flu like symptoms before…something had happened to him.

She scanned the rest of the records. Also absent from amother class was Koji Minamoto. And from a different, lower, class was Tomoki Himi…

She stared at the note attached. Because he wasn't in any of her classes – none of them were – she hadn't been told. And she hadn't been keeping up with the news.

'…has been missing for the past few days…'


	23. Fever

Firewalls weren't usually physical and could really only stop _digital_ viruses from sneaking inside, so when Mr Shibayama came to visit his son an hour after leaving him in the infirmary and found him looking far better, he had to wonder if it was a computer virus and not a microbiological one.

Better being the fever had gone down and Junpei could curl up without a look of pain on his face.

He'd heard the chaos at the local hospital and decided to take his son to the infirmary in their research building instead. Considering what they worked with, the first aid workers they had to be pretty good at dealing with emergencies – ranging between electrocutions and organisms getting where they shouldn't be. Mr Shibayama was usually far away from the organisms. That was for the people on the sixth and seventh floor. His office was on the basement level, along with a bunch of other people who handled security and a whole bunch of complex machines that did analysis on biomechanics and computer data.

So, in all honesty, a computer virus affecting a human shouldn't surprise him _too_ much. He wasn't sure whose idea it'd been to create a firewall so complex it permeated the entire building, and no computer virus could walk through its walls. It had something to do with the people who originally designed the place. But why they'd organise for that particularly – and how they actually did it – was a mystery to him.

It probably wasn't even technically a firewall – but it was sure easier to understand calling it one.

Until something happened to scramble his brain, of course.

The next time he got a break – in between running samples of something or other for the cancer guys on the seventh floor – he begged a bit of blood off a surprised but agreeable Junpei and ran a quick analysis on it.

After all, the first aid people had already sent a couple of tubes up to the microbiologists. The handy part of being in an institute that studied viruses. It was a little strange they capacitated viruses in both senses of the word, but that had also been the choice of the designers.

One of those was still with the company. Mr Shibayama decided to sneak into a spot on Mr Jim Kido's table during lunch break.

But before that was the blood sample. He didn't bother plating and culturing. The microbiologists did that and he didn't have the training beyond undergraduate science anyway. That was quite some years ago. He'd get those results tomorrow or the day after, depending. But he could analyse for data signatures far more quickly – once the computer got past the fact that it was analysing an organic substance.

It didn't work from his terminal, but there was a special one in the "war" room – that blocked all sorts out outside interference – that did manage to get past that hurdle. Again, Mr Shibayama wasn't quite sure why they needed a room like that, and it was only used when either there was a government conspiracy about, their security had been compromised or something couldn't be analysed from their standard terminals. So far in his career at the institute, none of those things had happened.

Until just then. He blinked at all the zeroes and ones on the screen in amazement as the computer continued its work, running the imprint through known computer viruses and searching for a match – or a closest relative.

The computer had found a virus. A _digital_ virus. In his son's bloodstream.

How in the world had it gotten there?

He didn't notice the door open, but no-one could miss the way metal slammed against metal when it shut. Mr Shibayama jumped a little guiltily. It wasn't often someone was in the war room on their own and it was a personal thing rather than a work related thing –

But Jim Kido just looked at the results the screen had started to show with a sort of sad expectance on his face. 'So it is that virus.'

Mr Shibayama didn't understand, until he saw one of the records the computer had brought up was of a Kido. A Joe Kido, who'd disappeared before the research institute had opened.


	24. Corruption

Zoe giggled as she flew. It was exhilarating. It was a rush.

Unfortunately, she couldn't fly for very long yet. The air was weird, and she got tired too easily.

'When the world has finished changing, it will be better,' that strange boy had said. 'And you can help.'

She'd turned him down immediately, but considered the idea afterwards. Afterwards had turned into a long time. She'd flown very high.

That was how she did things. Not swayed by others. Thinking about herself. About the people she loved.

Her wings faltered and she set herself down on a rock. There were lots of people around but no-one was paying her any regard – except a little girl that had looked at her and pointed and giggled – and a bigger one who'd worn a look of horror on her face at the sight of her.

But no-one else.

And she hadn't seen anyone she recognised yet either.

Then again, she'd flown haphazardly, without regard for direction.

She should try home.

**.**

It took her many flights and breaks to make it back. And ocean. And she was sure she'd passed through the Digital World a few times too. All the reformatting she supposed? It was almost like a roller-coaster ride.

There was nobody at home. She wondered if she should try other places her parents might be or her friends first. She decided on her friends. JP's mother looked stressed and drawn but she didn't see her – though she screamed in fright when Zoe managed to break a window.

That was after knocking on it for five minutes so she wasn't sure what had suddenly changed.

Maybe it had to do with the reformatting that Ryo had mentioned?

There were panicked parents at Tommy's house as well. And Takuya's. She was starting to see a pattern. And she was starting to feel a little worried as well. And guilty.

But Koji was home. Pale and sick and looking horrible but still at home.

Though he couldn't see her either.

She wasn't sure he could see anything. His eyes had gone milky white and he just stared blankly at his wall.

He was wearing something. When she touched it, she burned.

'So that's what the problem is.'

Ryo had popped up unexpectedly again.

**.**

Somehow he'd gotten the window open and was sitting calmly on the windowsill. 'You can't?' he asked, surprised. 'I wonder if it's because of your element. Air passes through things more than it touches I guess.'

Zoe shrugged. She wasn't keen on a philosophical discussion. 'What do you mean by problem?' she asked.

'You've been on a bit of a flyabout, haven't you?' Ryo returned, not answering the question.

Zoe blew hot air in his face in annoyance.

'Fine, fine. Nothing's wrong really; we just need to get _that_ off.' He pointed at the golden band that had burned Zoe. 'It's causing the virus to corrupt. If it wasn't for that, he'd be like you right now.' He looked her over. 'Your cheeks are glowing, you know. By the way, did you think about my proposal?'

'Where is everyone?' Zoe asked. 'Takuya, Tommy, JP…' He hadn't checked on Koichi because he lived in the other direction, but that didn't meant she'd forgotten. '…Koichi?'

Ryo shrugged. 'All fine, last I saw. Except the dark one. Not sure what he's gone and done.'

'Meaning?' Zoe folded her arms.

'Threw a bug in the programme by the looks of it.' Ryo shook his head. 'Hell if I know _why_ …'

Zoe didn't think Koichi would do that without a good reason.

Did he know something about this "reformatting" that she didn't?

Of course, _Ryo_ knew quite a bit that she didn't.

'Where is he?'

Ryo snorted. 'Do you fly with your eyes in the clouds? Just look at the sky.'


	25. Humanity

He didn't want to fight his brother, and he was sure that, beyond that virus fighting for control, Kouji didn't want to either.

And they weren't fighting. Not really. Kouji was simply standing there, staring between the two and taking no sides. And the Saint was playing with idle strings on his guitar, making a mismatch of tunes.

And Kouichi wasn't actually saying anything either. They were at an impasse of sorts. Because when Kouichi had tried to explain about the virus, about how it would change them all –

'It hurts,' Kouji had said, and it sounded so raw that the words had died without being said or heard.

And of course Kouichi could understand that, because he'd felt the same, before the Digital World.

But Kouji hadn't known him to stop him then. Now they knew each other. Now he could stop. And he had a way to stop.

The Saint lowered the guitar. 'I grow bored,' he said petulantly. 'Soon this song will be complete.'

And that made Kouichi both desperate and angry – because once the transformation was complete, there'd be no going back.

But what could he do? All he had to stop the virus was –

He thought no more than the idea. Simply, he threw himself forward when the Saint tried to wrap an arm around Kouji's shoulders, taking off his Holy ring in the same motion and slipping it around the other's wrist.

It tightened instantly and they both screamed: Kouji from the holy power pushing against the viral onslaught and Kouichi from the loss of that protection. The Saint looked at them: curiously and a tad annoyed, but not concerned.

The concern was however plastered across Yutaka's face, along with confusion. He'd heard the facts but things had moved too suddenly, too fast. And there was still a lot he didn't know and very little he'd experienced.

But screams and pain were parts of the universal language – and so was the fear of something keeping him rooted to the spot.

It was an instant light show. Light poured out of the ring and created a halo around the younger twin. As to the older who'd given his up – he became surrounded in darkness instead. A black outline formed by small particles lifting off his skin, becoming blacker as the human form began to quickly crumble.

The Saint frowned. 'What is going on?' It was a loud, harsh question: louder and harsher than the pseudo-melodies he'd sung before.

'Well,' said a new voice, appearing above them – a boy with brown hair and tan skin sitting astride a dragon. 'This is interesting.'

The halo of light tightened, then vanished. Kouji fell like a puppet cut of its strings and did not get up again. Kouichi on the other hand rose into the air – if he could be still called that. If the black particles were the virus, they had eaten his entire body in minutes and were now fashioning a new one for him.

The wings were the first to become recognisable from the blob, and then the body – not human at all, for humans did not walk on all fours or have a tail. The scream changed as well: one cut off, the other became more guttural – a growl. A sphinx perhaps, Yutaka fleetingly thought. He felt as though he was caught in a nightmare and perhaps it was. Perhaps it all, starting from Tomoki's disappearance and that brief adventure through the digital world, was a nightmare.

And the winged figure fell: not on to the ground but through it, and vanished. And the boy astride his dragon laughed in amusement and vanished as well, leaving just the teenager with his guitar and the other, collapsed, boy.

Saint, the ghosts had called boys like that teenager. Yutaka saw nothing different in him – except when he touched the Holy ring and it shocked him. It was Kouichi who'd undergone drastic changes – into the thing he'd called Phantomon in the digital world, and now into…that. He saw nothing different at all –

Except when the boy turned and walked away, forgetting or ignoring the spectator there. He crouched on all fours and became a blue blur – though the skin he wore didn't seem to change at all.


	26. Entanglement

The sky was looking strange.

Sora flew experimentally for a minute or so, before settling. It wasn't good flying air. Good flying weather perhaps – but it wasn't the weather. It was something…else.

'We should get moving,' she said aloud, looking at the quaint little cave they'd been living in. It was fun. It was quiet. It was like being a mother looking after their child – but children grew up quickly, didn't they? They grew up too quickly and left too many regrets.

Tommy was zipping around in the snow, covered warmly in white fur and with skates for feet. It was tricker to walk now but everything was a surface to be skated across if one wanted to. He'd been quick to pick it up. Like Yolei and her wings.

Sora had been the slow one. The one who'd wanted to stay small and innocent and oblivious forever.

'Then just change your image?' Tai's laughing voice rung out and Sora blinked. Indeed, Tai looked just like he had all those years ago. Some of them had chosen never to get older. Like TK. Others chose to keep on changing. Like Joe. Like Tai. And then there was her. She had too many regrets, she supposed. She knew all too well she couldn't go back and that held her.

Tai cocked his head a little. He could hear Tommy's laughter. 'Is that a new Saint? Did you make him?'

'Yes and no,' Sora replied. He was a new Saint. She hadn't made him…though she hadn't stopped him either. Not that she could have, if she really wanted to. She didn't exactly know _how_. But he hadn't had a choice nonetheless. He was playing like an innocent little kid now but he was going to ask where his brother was again. Where his parents were. Where his friends were.

'Why aren't you happy?' Tai asked bluntly. 'You're a bird. You belong in the sky. Why aren't you there?'

'The air's not right, today.' That was the best answer she had and the only one she could give. Anything more would be too philosophical, too argumentative, too…useless. It didn't matter how many times one undid the yarn and restarted if they couldn't pick up the technique.

Tai stuck his tongue out, as if he was tasting the air. 'Come on! It's fine.'

It wasn't, but Tai was acting like the kid he appeared to be, even though they both knew better. Didn't they?

Who knew. She'd never tried to change herself – her appearance, or her age. Maybe it messed with Saints like them. Maybe it messed with _them_. How long had it been since she'd last seen them? Since they'd laughed and had fun together? Had they ever done that, after becoming what they are? Had she ever stopped pining for all she had lost by becoming this, for wishing she could have grown up naturally, fulfilling her dreams – playing tennis, going on dates, getting married, having kids and juggling a career and being the best family girl, the best family woman, she could be. But it wasn't like that now. She could go to the other world, sometimes. She could sit on the train and stare at people. She could even pass her mother, her own mother, in the shopping districts – but it just wasn't the same.

She could see the boy she'd grown up living so close to, the boy who was her best friend, and it just wasn't the same.

'Play!' Had Tai gotten even younger in appearance? He certainly sounded the part.

He tried to simplify it. Make it sound good. Maybe Sora was just being stubborn. Maybe she'd have made this choice anyway if she'd had one.

'Play!' Now Tommy's voice had joined in. Tommy, the same age as he'd been when the fever, and Sainthood, had claimed him – but he was still young. Still new. He didn't know what he could do. What he'd become. He didn't even understand what a Saint was. 'Oh, are you a friend?'

'Yep, friend.' Tai grinned, showing off all his teeth. They looked a little sharp. Sora supposed that meant he'd taken Agumon within him again.

Biyomon always stayed within her.

'You two play.' She closed her eyes. 'I'll watch.'

'You can't watch with your eyes closed.' They both giggled.

But she could. She could watch like an adult watched things. All the complications. All the strings tangled with one another. All the colours messed up. Not like a kid where everything was black and white and neat.


	27. Throes

Water burned. The sky burned. Earth burned, some places more than others and most where, if he focused enough, he could see numbers in the air. Numbers that shouldn't be there. Numbers that had only a cursory role in this world – and perhaps even that was too much. After all, look at what it had led to. Look at how the fire had spread. Fire burned. Wildfire destroyed.

And what didn't destroy created new beasts: mutant beasts, strong beasts that would hammer out the competition and rule the new world.

He'd known what they were called once upon a time. But he'd forgotten. Or maybe he hadn't known at all, but he'd seen them. Talked to them, or with them. There was a distinction between the two, yes? And fought them.

And now he was…scarred? Burned and with the scabs forming over those burns and yet he burned again, before there was new skin to burn. Why? Why did everything burn? Wasn't there a comfortable place anywhere to be found? A comfortable, painless, place?

_Comfort… Painless…_

There was a place. He knew it – full of black – though he couldn't recall where it had gone. He moved. He was already moving, looking for a pain-free place, a place away from the garden of thorns he'd somehow stumbled within.

How had he stumbled upon those thorns? He couldn't quite recall.


	28. Scapegoat

They had contacts. Probably due to the first wave of disappearances the virus had caused. Ten children vanishing without a trace. Or that was the official report, anyway.

Mr Shibayama was quickly learning that the official report had glossed over quite a few things.

That, for example, there'd been eleven children. One had made it back, protected by what was called a "Holy Ring." Something in it combatted the virus. A computer expert from another country had managed to replicate its protection and spread it amongst others he thought to be at risk. So nothing had happened afterwards. The virus-infected children had grown up in the world that had taken them, and the rest had stayed, ignorant or knowledgeable and afraid.

And then there'd been the new wave that was catching a new generation of children unaware.

'But why JP?' he asked. 'Why my son?'

'It's not only your son,' said Jim. 'It's his friends too. All of them, maybe.'

'All of them?' He knew his son's friends. Except one who'd been in the hospital still, after falling down a flight of stairs? That didn't sound like anything virus related, unless the virus had messed around with the proprioception centres in his brain, of course.

'Well, maybe not all of them,' he amended. 'Tommy, Zoe and Koichi are all missing. Koji is sick. Takuya _was_ sick, but he seems okay now. Looks like he ran into the right people just in time.' He counted them again.

'You've got them all,' Mr Shibayama said tiredly. 'And Junpei, of course, is here.'

'We can call Willis,' said Jim. 'But that might not be a good idea if our firewall is keeping the virus at bay.

'Why not?' Was there another layer to this madness?

Jim showed him a report. 'Target A,' Mr Shibayama read. 'Ryo Akiyama. Potential queen carrier of –' He blinked. 'They think this kid brought the virus?'

'It's more than that,' Mr Takenouchi cut in. 'Ryo always was a complicated case. See, he had contact with the first group that disappeared as well. Hypnos – consider them the authority on anything related to the Digital World and that includes the virus, though I can't say they have the childrens' best interests at heart all the time – believe he may be the source of the virus itself.'

'A kid,' Mr Shibayama repeated. 'When he could be a victim like everyone else?'

They shrugged helplessly. 'My daughter,' Mr Takenouchi listed, 'Jim's brother, your son. Can we afford to think about the wellbeing of a kid we don't know like this?'

'They need specimens, anyway,' Jim continued. 'A call went out, for anyone with symptoms to be handed over. Obviously, we hid JP here. Koji's parents have just kept him at home. It's easy enough with his stepmother as a doctor. The others are missing and Takuya's symptom free at the moment. Unless you want them using JP – '

'Of course not!' Mr Shibayama burst out.

' – we'll have to accept them using somebody else's kid. Ryo seems to be the only person known to have the virus who's wandering around on this side.'

They were resigned. Already resigned. What sort of pandemic was his son afflicted with, that all ethics went out the window.

'And, of course, there's a morale boost by having something to blame for it all.' He shook his head. He wondered how easily he'd be desensitised to the idea as well, with his son lying sick upstairs.

'A scapegoat,' said Jim, 'or he really may be the source. He should be only a few years younger than me, you know. An adult. And yet he was growing up all over again these last few years – at least according to Hypnos.'


	29. Conspiracy

'I don't like this,' Zoe said plainly. Tomoki's situation was pretty simple and the only thing she felt was a pang of jealousy of being replaced. But Sora seemed nice enough. She'd never shown up with her digimon partner and scared the feathers out of her as that boy and his Patamon were likely to – and she hadn't shot fireballs at Tomoki to see if he melts either. _That_ kid looked like he was only four years old – except Sora gave him a glare fit for a teenager.

'You're such a mother,' the boy whined – and then abruptly grew into an adult.

Zoe realised she was missing quite a bit of the picture right then.

But that wasn't what led her to accost Ryo for answers the next time she saw him. 'What is this?' she hissed. 'Why can't Koji bear to look at me, and what's wrong with Koichi? And on that point, what's with that kid who turned into an adult in like…five seconds!'

Ryo shrugged. 'I can't answer what's with sphinx boy either,' he said. 'Threw me for a loop too, you know. As for your other friend, my guess is the transformation got stuck halfway. Slapped on a holy ring way too late except now there's precious few people who can get it off and none of them will actually try.'

'Meaning, I assume, that I can't.' Zoe crossed her arms. Ryo was always a strange one, since they'd met at the ramen strand. But when he'd shown up at the hospital, he'd been a godsend. He'd set her mind and body free and now she didn't have those awful cramps anymore and could fly wherever she wanted, and yet the more she flew, the more she saw as well.

'As for the kid…' He shrugged. 'Which one is he? Describe him.'

'Uhh…' Why did she think Ryo was omnipresent, again? 'Brown hair. Was throwing fireballs at a friend of mine – which I'm _not_ happy about, by the way. Then Sora glared at him and he grew a good few feet, and his hair was crazy –'

Ryo laughed. 'That Tai. But any of them can do it. Or, I should say, any of _you_ can do it. Except maybe sphinx boy. Don't have a clue what's going on there – which is really annoying, now that I think about it.'

'You'd better not be planning something,' Zoe frowned.

'You're not as feisty as I expected you to be,' Ryo mused.

Zoe frowned further. 'I feel like I'm missing something,' she said. 'Where is JP?'

Ryo shrugged. 'Beats me. I can't keep track of everyone – no matter how Hypnos thinks the world's my pet pen.'

'Hypnos?' Zoe repeated. She'd heard that name before. 'Aren't they the guys who put a warrant out for you arrest?'

Ryo laughed. 'Did they now? Goes to show how everyone wants a scapegoat?'

'And you just happened to set yourself up to be one?' Zoe asked sceptically. 'You know more than you're telling.'

'Of course I do, Zo-Zo.'

'It's Zoe.'

'Sure.' He didn't sound like he cared. 'The truth is, the world was a mess long before I poked around. The original Chosen – the group that Sora and Tai are from – were around before I knew anything about other worlds – or how they'd mix together.'

'Mix together?' Zoe repeated.

'Consider it a crumb.' He grinned at her. 'Though you're like Sora, I think. You won't do much with it, and that's a shame. I'd hoped you'd be more like…someone else.' He looked almost sad for a moment, but then he shrugged it off. 'As for Hypnos, they're even more in the dark and they want to safe face. Solution: pick the guy who knows a little more, squeeze all the answers out, and then dump the blame. After all, I'm not one of them. And I'm not a Legendary Warrior either.'

'Then where are your friends?' she asked curiously.

He hesitated, then said: 'dead.' And before she could gasp in horror and pity, he added: 'here' and stuck an arm out.

It turned into a purple claw.

He grinned at her shock. 'Haven't you worked it out yet?' he asked. 'You can do more than just grow wings and fly about like a butterfly.'

And there was part of the picture she was missing – except she had no time to appreciate it because he came at her in a flurry and she dodged, higher and further until she outstripped him –

And the sounds of a new fight reached her, and she wondered if he'd been trying to hurt her or get her out of there.


End file.
